In honor of Jazz Appreciation Month, today we’re featuring Chameleon, a wonderfully funky jazz standard from Herbie Hancock’s classic Head Hunters album.
T.R.I.A.D. – Using a Simple Acronym to Help Structure your Rehearsals
For inexperienced teachers (and often more experienced ones, too), choosing which elements to fix in a rehearsal can be difficult.
Middle School Madness: Managing the Musical Menagerie
The middle school student can be a bundle of enthusiasm, a deep thinker, an annoying eye-roller, and a ray of sunshine riding an emotional rollercoaster – simultaneously.
Create and Edit Music with SmartMusic’s Notation Tool, Compose
While SmartMusic includes an unrivaled online repertoire library, there may be times when you wish to augment this library with music you’ve created.
Video Tips from Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band: When It Goes Off the Rails
As part of our jazz appreciation month celebration, we’re excited to share our third video of a three-part series from Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.
Our Success Story: A SmartMusic Contest
One of the best things about being a part of the SmartMusic team is hearing the amazing things that teachers and students are accomplishing with it.
Music Ed Mentor Podcast #044: Incorporating Pop Music Into Your Ensemble
I am always interested in ways to increase student engagement. This week my guest is GRAMMY-nominated music educator Steve Holley.
April Repertoire Update Featuring More Gordon Goodwin Videos
This month we continue to expand the SmartMusic repertoire library, beginning with several new solo and large ensemble titles. We also swapped new music into SmartMusic’s Free Library and made a handful of titles available to anyone (even folks who have yet to sign up for SmartMusic).
Modeling Strategies for Effective and Efficient Teaching
The Chinese proverb pictured above clearly illustrates that telling isn’t teaching. While engaging students through demonstration is far more effective than explaining, music teachers often do just the opposite, particularly in ensemble-based classes.
Video Tips from Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band: Listening to the Band
Last month we shared a video from Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, where band members shared advice to help your students master difficult passages.